– just trying to figure it out –

There are so many amazing Holy Week traditions. Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday reenactments, Passover seder meals, Good Friday worship, Easter Egg hunts, and time with family.

But one of my very favorite traditions is probably pretty frowned upon by churches, because it’s hilariously sacrilegious. Well, kinda. I watch the Vintage 21 Jesus videos. These videos came out when I was in High School, put out by a CHURCH in North Carolina.

Why do I love these videos so much? Mostly because they’re hilarious and my sense of humor is top notch, but also because these videos help teenagers connect with the story of Jesus in a very real way.

In my life as a youth minister, I was constantly trying to find ways to help make the Bible relevant for pre teens and teenagers. These videos help teenagers remember that Jesus was a real life human who probably had real life emotions, that Jesus got mad sometimes and wasn’t always happy, and also helps them connect to a very dark week in our Christian history without much fear. If you heard the story of the crucifixion as a teenager as your first exposure to the church, what would you think?

But also I love these videos because they remind us that the way Jesus is so often portrayed in art and in movies is absurd. Seriously, Jesus was not a blonde blue eyed white dude from the Middle East. He just wasn’t. And he wasn’t nearly as stoic as he is portrayed in this particular film, as well as many pieces of artwork we see. He was real life, flesh and blood, dirty, walking around, emotional Jesus. Not a glowing

So without further explanation, here are the videos that I watch every single year during Holy Week. Enjoy!